WFMD - Congressmen Delaney, Fitzpatrick Introduce Infrastructure Bill

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A bill to help repair the nation's crumbling infrastructure was introduced on Tuesday in the US House of Representatives. The Partnership to Build America Act is sponsored by 6th District Congressman John Delaney, and Pennsylvania Representative Mike Fitzpatrick.

Delaney says the legislation will establish a $50-billion American Infrastructure Fund which will loan money to state and local governments to repair infrastructure. That includes not just roads and bridges, but energy, communications infrastructure, water and sewer systems, education projects.

The money would come from bond sales. Delaney says the legislation also provides incentives to American companies with money parked overseas to purchase these bonds and bring some of that cash home. "Great incentive for private companies to invest," he says. "The incentive is tied to the changes to the international tax system. In other words, it allows them to bring back some of their money from overseas provided they put some of that up in infrastructure."

No federal taxpayer money will be involved, says Delaney.

The American Society of Civil Engineers has given the nation's infrastructure a grade of D+. "Engineers think we need about a $3-trillion investment to bring ourselves up to a standard we can all be proud of," says Delaney. "This bill doesn't do all that, but it does about a third of it. It can really move the needle."

Delaney introduced this bill during the last Congressional session. He says it has bipartisan support. "In last the Congress, we ended up with about 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans. So it's incredibly bipartisan. So we think this thing has a real shot."

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